Multivariate and regional age-related change in basal ganglia iron in neonates.

In the perinatal period, reward and cognitive systems begin trajectories, influencing later psychiatric risk. The basal ganglia is important for reward and cognitive processing but early development has not been fully characterized. To assess age-related development, we used a measure of basal ganglia physiology, specifically brain tissue iron, obtained from nT2* signal in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI), associated with dopaminergic processing. We used data from the Developing Human Connectome Project (n = 464) to assess how moving from the prenatal to the postnatal environment affects rsfMRI nT2*, modeling gestational and postnatal age separately for basal ganglia subregions in linear models. We did not find associations with tissue iron and gestational age [range: 24.29-42.29] but found positive associations with postnatal age [range:0-17.14] in the pallidum and putamen, but not the caudate. We tested if there was an interaction between preterm birth and postnatal age, finding early preterm infants (GA < 35 wk) had higher iron levels and changed less over time. To assess multivariate change, we used support vector regression to predict age from voxel-wise-nT2* maps. We could predict postnatal but not gestational age when maps were residualized for the other age term. This provides evidence subregions differentially change with postnatal experience and preterm birth may disrupt trajectories

Establishing a large prospective clinical cohort in people with head and neck cancer as a biomedical resource:head and neck 5000

BACKGROUND: Head and neck cancer is an important cause of ill health. Survival appears to be improving but the reasons for this are unclear. They could include evolving aetiology, modifications in care, improvements in treatment or changes in lifestyle behaviour. Observational studies are required to explore survival trends and identify outcome predictors.METHODS: We are identifying people with a new diagnosis of head and neck cancer. We obtain consent that includes agreement to collect longitudinal data, store samples and record linkage. Prior to treatment we give participants three questionnaires on health and lifestyle, quality of life and sexual history. We collect blood and saliva samples, complete a clinical data capture form and request a formalin fixed tissue sample. At four and twelve months we complete further data capture forms and send participants further quality of life questionnaires.DISCUSSION: This large clinical cohort of people with head and neck cancer brings together clinical data, patient-reported outcomes and biological samples in a single co-ordinated resource for translational and prognostic research.</p

QSIPrep: an integrative platform for preprocessing and reconstructing diffusion MRI data

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) is the primary method for noninvasively studying the organization of white matter in the human brain. Here we introduce QSIPrep, an integrative software platform for the processing of diffusion images that is compatible with nearly all dMRI sampling schemes. Drawing on a diverse set of software suites to capitalize on their complementary strengths, QSIPrep facilitates the implementation of best practices for processing of diffusion images

Abstract B94: A10-year retrospective analysis of African American and white patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma treated at the University of Alabama at Birmingham

Abstract Introduction: Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the commonest type of NHL and has variable clinical behavior because of distinct molecular signatures that have recently been identified. The treatment of this lymphoma has improved dramatically after the addition of rituximab to the commonly used first line chemotherapy CHOP but there is still a wide variation in response to treatment. Our study aim was to see if race as well as socioeconomic status played a role in diagnosis as well as treatment of this disease. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients from 1997-2007 with a biopsy confirmed diagnosis of DLBCL that were treated at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and analyzed various factors like age, sex, marital status, insurance status, Stage, B symptoms, extranodal sites, ECOG performance status (PS), type of treatment and survival after stratifying them by reported race as either white or African American(AA). We excluded patients that had evidence of transformation or mixed histology or incomplete information about demographics or treatment. Results: A total of 292 patients met the inclusion criteria.10 patients with race reported as ‘Other’ were further excluded. A total of 282 patients were analyzed out of which 240(85%) of patients were white and 15% of patients were AA. Of note, Jefferson County where UAB is located has an approximately 33% of AA residents. The mean age of diagnosis for AA patients was lower at 48 yrs as compared to 52 yrs for white patients (p=0.01). AA patients were more likely to be uninsured (5%) as opposed to white patients (3%)(p=0.02). AA patients seemed to have an inferior performance status (PS) at presentation with only 57% presenting at with an ECOG PS of 0-1 as compared to 73% of white patients.(p&amp;lt;0.001). They also seemed presented at a later stage of the disease.31% presented at Stage I/II vs 34% of white patients (p&amp;lt;0.012) with correspondingly higher LDH values (50% with values greater than upper limit of normal compared to 37% of White patients, p=0.024). There was no significant difference in the type of first chemotherapy regimen that both groups received with approximately similar proportions receiving CHOP (42% of white patients vs 35% of AA patients) or R-CHOP(35% of white patients vs 44% of AA patients). The median survival for AA patients was 2 years as compared to 3 years in the white patients but this was not statistically significant (p=0.2). In conclusion, DLBCL is a heterogeneous disease with distinct molecular subtypes that have been recently identified. Our single institution 10-year analysis shows that a significantly greater proportion of AA patients appear to present at a younger age, with more advanced disease but do not seem to have a significant difference in overall survival. We hypothesize that these findings may be due to socioeconomic status as well as inherent differences in the biology of the tumor. There is a well documented decreased incidence of various B cell NHL in the African American population and this is confirmed in our analysis with only a 15% incidence of DLBCL even in a county with a higher percentage of AA residents. These observations can help guide further research into identifying the different molecular subtypes of DLBCL in various ethnic populations and help us develop more targeted therapy for this disease. Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2010;19(10 Suppl):B94.</jats:p

Puberty contributes to adolescent development of fronto-striatal functional connectivity supporting inhibitory control

AbstractAdolescence is defined by puberty and represents a period characterized by neural circuitry maturation (e.g., fronto-striatal systems) facilitating cognitive improvements. Though studies have characterized age-related changes, the extent to which puberty influences maturation of fronto-striatal networks is less known. Here, we combine two longitudinal datasets to characterize the role of puberty in the development of fronto-striatal resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and its relationship to inhibitory control in 106 10-18-year-olds. Beyond age effects, we found that puberty was related to decreases in rsFC between the caudate and the anterior vmPFC, rostral and ventral ACC, and v/dlPFC, as well as with rsFC increases between the dlPFC and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) across males and females. Stronger caudate rsFC with the dlPFC and vlPFC during early puberty was associated with worse inhibitory control and slower correct responses, respectively, whereas by late puberty, stronger vlPFC rsFC with the dorsal striatum was associated with faster correct responses. Taken together, our findings suggest that certain fronto-striatal connections are associated with pubertal maturation beyond age effects, which, in turn are related to inhibitory control. We discuss implications of puberty-related fronto-striatal maturation to further our understanding of pubertal effects related to adolescent cognitive and affective neurodevelopment.</jats:p